麻豆影院

As park usage rises, CU 麻豆影院 grad students join effort to manage the growth

Four 麻豆影院 graduate students spent their summer working at one of the nation鈥檚 premier national parks鈥擱ocky Mountain National Park鈥攁s part of their capstone project in the Masters of the Environment Graduate Program.

John Hannon,听management specialist for business programs at the park, has managed student groups, including those from the National Park Service鈥檚 intern program and Colorado State University, but this is the first time he鈥檚 worked with CU 麻豆影院 students.

Many of the programs crucial to the visitor experience at Rocky Mountain National Park, such as alternative transportation and commercial services, have recently been brought to the forefront by the strain of increasing park usage, according to Hannon. And it鈥檚 an opportunity he thinks these students can help fix.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really good because they bring an outside perspective and a new perspective,鈥� said Hannon.

The Masters of the Environment (MENV) program requires students to complete a capstone project (which can be completed as a team), instead of the thesis or practicum requirements of many traditional masters鈥� programs.听

Some of the students pick a team then decide on a program, but Kirsta Tortorice, Stephanie Reifenberg, Alison Dietze and Bridger Tomlin picked the project before the team.

The program routinely holds networking events to meet with potential partners for grad students, which is where the team met Hannon and learned about his project.

鈥淔or us, we met John (Hannon), and the rest was history,鈥� said Reifenberg, a Michigan native who is concentrating on land management and wildlife.听

鈥淪ome teams are formed by who wants to be in the project, and some by who wants to work together,鈥� said Dietze, who is focusing more on sustainability. 鈥淲e all just very lucky we work so well together.鈥�

鈥淭he park has seen a 1.5 million increase in (annual) visitors since 2012,鈥� said Hannon. 鈥淣aturally, the park didn鈥檛 get any bigger, and the roads didn鈥檛 either.鈥�

鈥淕iven the career interests of this team, working alongside agency staff at Rocky Mountain National Park is an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the challenges and opportunities facing public lands managers while also developing professional skills,鈥� said Instructor Lydia Lawhon, the advisor for the project.

This experience is a little different for each student, but they all share one thing: their interest in learning new skills from those that make the Rocky Mountain National Park a great place, and figuring out how they can use established skills to make it even better for visitors.

The project 鈥渋s super interesting because I have a love of national parks, and it鈥檚 interesting to experience from both perspectives (as a park visitor and manager),鈥� said Tortorice, a graduate of Endicott College in Massachusetts who came to CU 麻豆影院 specifically to work on policy and public land management issues.

Tomlin, a 麻豆影院 native who graduated from Maine鈥檚 Bowdoin College with a degree in environmental studies and history, agrees.

鈥淚 wanted to go to grad school in urban or environmental planning, and it鈥檚 hard to find the unique blend of policy, hard science and social science that鈥檚 here (at CU 麻豆影院),鈥� Tomlin said. 鈥淲hat got me excited about this project is the opportunity to work with a project that鈥檚 close to home, and being able to visualize the impact to the location.鈥�

鈥淲orking with asset management is transferable to any field,鈥� Tomlin said. 鈥淭his is a very useful experience, especially in project scoping.鈥�

The work has just begun for the project, according to Hannon, and any policy suggestions will go through National Park Service staff and its extensive public input process.

鈥淚 think we have some pretty specific goals, and we鈥檝e designed this project to where they have the right amount of time to reach them (policy suggestions),鈥� he said.

As for the grad students, finding themselves in a team doesn鈥檛 present any problems as the program makes them work together frequently.听

鈥淭o be involved in this (program at the national park) is really awesome,鈥� said Reifenberg.